The annual Geminid meteor shower peaks tomorrow night (December 13, 2012) between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.. That’s between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time, everywhere on the planet. Why so late? Well that’s because between midnight and 2 a.m. is when the part of the earth you are on is plowing head on into the meteors.

Last week’s transit of Venus made for some big scuttlebutt in nerdy astronomy circles. What’s the big deal with Venus’ orbit bringing it between us and the sun? After all, from Venus’ perspective, it’s just business as usual. Well, it’s our perspective that makes the event so interesting. It is, after all, the story of how we learned the scale of our solar system.

On June 5, 2012 (or June 6th depending on your location), Venus will pass between us and the sun, obscuring portions of it sort of like a tiny eclipse. This is called a transit, and the next time Venus does this, everyone you know will be dead. So take a few minutes out of your afternoon check it out. Here is a super-easy way.

There is going to be an annular solar eclipse today! That means the moon will cast a shadow on the earth as it passes between us and the sun while it is at apogee (the furthest distance it gets from earth in its eliptical orbit). This results is a big, black ball with a ring of fire surrounding it. That ring is called an annulus, which is why we call it an annular eclipse.